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Sharks and the Australian Imaginary.
Helen Tiffin, English Department, University of Queensland
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This paper is concerned with the representation of sharks in Australian writing (journalism & fiction) from 1800 to present. Science in general, but biological science and Conversation Biology in particular are beginning to recognize the crucial role played by representation in the potential extinction or preservation of currently endangered species. In the case of marine species (and in particular sharks) the problem of centuries of "bad press" is a particularly acute one. Metaphors and tropes associated with the shark have both international and national bases and deployments and historical and contemporary roots and resonances.
Against the background of international images, the paper will consider the figuration of sharks in predator-prey relations; cannibalism; as technology (machines); white death and Jaws; to name just a few persisting and influential examples from Australia and overseas. It will also examine specific Australian figurations in terms of, for instance, associations with the beach and national identity; with particular stock brokers and golfers (evil financiers and Great Whites); and in specific contexts, eg the notorious "shark arm" murder. The paper will conclude by suggesting the ways in which such images persist in the present and/or are changing as scientific biological models shift from predator-prey paradigms to more "ecological sustainable" models of animal/animal and human/animal interactions.
